Echo & The Bunnymen - The Very Best Of Echo & The Bunnymen - More Songs To Learn And Sing

This release is an updated extended re-release of Echo & The Bunnymen's essential 1985 cover-all best-of compilation "Songs To Learn And Sing". However since '85 they have managed to release a few more singles, regroup and practically start a musical career anew, spanning a volume of four more full albums, which, by some opinions, present a strong competition in terms of quality to the band's 1980s classic repertoire.

Comparing to the 1985 11-track release, although their seminal 1981 single "The Puppet" was sadly omitted, this release includes 9 more songs: the infamous cover version of The Doors' "People Are Strange" (from the Lost Boys soundtrack, produced by Ray Manzarek), the singles from their most-successful 1987 eponimous album, various selections from their post-1990s albums, and the not-available-elsewhere cover version of Tim Hardin's classic "Hang On To A Dream".

I do have some criticism for the track-ordering, which ranges between the creative to the somewhat-bizarre. Although blending old and new songs can be refreshing, in my conservative opinion it could be more efficient to order the tracks in a chronological order to show their intersting musical progress of sound through the years, or rather, as I suspect the compiler of this release tried, to arrange them thematically with upbeat songs for start and the more intimate personal songs towards the end.

However, there are a few flaws in the general flow of songs here: tracks 7&8 from their 1990s output may be upbeat, but stuck like a bone in the throat of a truly great possible sequence of the 1980s theatric "Never Stop" and "A Promise". Then, there are some moody songs that are placed strategically in interruption of upbeat sequences, such as "The Killing Moon" between "The Back of Love" and "Seven Seas", and - more shockingly - the ethereal "Rust" between "The Game" and "Lips Like Sugar" - definitely misplaced there and could get much more of the respect they're owed to, in a different musical setting.

On the plus side, this compilation is presented in rare pristine sound quality and mixes, and to sum things up, despite the track ordering it can be proclaimed as the best introduction currently available for the repertoire of this truly magnificent band.